Around and About the courses – Vistabella Update
On the 2nd January 2018 the full 18 hole course was opened to the public incorporating the new long awaited 7 holes and we thought it prudent to provide an update further to previous articles.
Since the previous article on the subject the new scorecards have been printed and are in use,the RFEG slope calculation has been conducted and published and the distance markers have now been installed on every hole BUT the hand held gadgets used by many golfers are still to be updated by the providers.
The initial feedback from players is very positive in that the course is well designed and the amount of grass growth in such a short period of time is incredible.
As the grass is new and already hibernating there is little strength in the grass in the rough which despite being relatively short is good at hiding balls so there are some delays on the early holes as players look for golf balls just missing fairways and this will improve in time and in the meanwhile players are warned to watch there shots carefully until the ball comes to rest to prevent these problems.
The greens were laid nearly 2 years ago and have a good surface with some wicked possible pin positions but are still a little firm in places taking little back spin.
The bunkers are full with new sand which will take some time to settle but in the meanwhile shots from any height may tend to plug or partially plug in the bunkers but again this will improve with time.
In terms of course layout the only negetive comment are that on some holes the player must travel back towards the next tee in the direction of players playing down the previous hole so care has to be taken here to avoid any accidents.
In general the only repeated critisicm is the speed of play with many rounds taking in excess of 5 hours so perhaps some tougher marshalling on the early holes is necessary.
In summary what the owners and course staff at Vistabella have achieved in such a short time is truly remarkable and the course will without doubt improve in time to be considered one of the best courses in the area.
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